Chapter 20 Settling down again

Ralph's POV

I quickly followed Aiden out of the basement, he paused at the door to give Moss a slight nod before he walked out the back door. His cheeks were red and his jaw was clenched. He took a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. "That...was useless," he had his eyes shut as he looked towards the far end of the garden.

I shook my head, "not entirely useless." I tried to be of some comfort. "We know that there are connections in the south for Travis. Or at least, we're not the first pack to be attacked. I wonder how many are on his long list." I sighed and moved so I was directly behind him, my hands reaching for his shoulders. "We know there's more people involved than we thought, not really getting a number. "

He turned to me, he was leaning against a pillar which supported a sheet we used for a temporary roof in the winter. "There's more humans then we thought. Or used to be werewolves," he trailed off slightly. "Is there a way to tell the difference?"

"Between humans and those who've lost their wolves?" He nodded with a small frown. "Not really, you just have to be able to recognise them." His head lent against the wood as he looked up.

"This makes things more difficult." I chuckled at his groaning. "What's happening with the others?" I bit my lip and looked back towards the house.

"They can stay, I'm sure Harlow would appreciate the company." I couldn't help but let a small grin start appearing on my face. Aiden raised his eyebrows and a small smirk was placed on his lips.

"Right, I've got to tease him. That'll cheer me up." I nodded and lent forward, giving him a soft kiss.

"Don't worry about what's happening right now, alright?" I looked at him seriously. "We've done too much of that for today. We can worry about more tomorrow." He chuckled and scrunched up his nose slightly.

"Oh wonderful, makes me very excited for tomorrow." I laughed and shook my head at the sarcasm dripping from his words. He had been using it a lot more recently. I hoped that meant he was getting a little more comfortable around here. "Seriously though, it's going to be stressful, again."

"Well, we just have to do it until it's not stressful." He rested his head on my chest.

I instinctively wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "It'll be alright, we're strong. We just need to figure out some more tactics." The movement of him scoffing made me smile slightly.

"We'll have a full book soon." He yawned lightly, pushing more against my chest. In a quick moment of not thinking, I wrapped my arms around him and lifted him up. I had hold of under his knees and his back. "What are you doing?" He stuttered lightly, holding onto me tighter.

"You're tired, you should sleep." He shook his head at me frantically as we passed people in the hall. He then hid his face in my chest.

"This is embarrassing." The whine added to the childishness which was the most probable cause of the embarrassment.

"I don't feel embarrassed at all." My grin was wide. He peered up at me with a slight glare on his face but we had approached our room by this point. I rested him gently on the bed and sat next to him. "I'll bring food up soon." He shook his head at me and pouted.

"I'm not a child, you're acting like I am." I shook my head and folded my arms as I stood in front of him.

"We all have to have a few moments of childishness...and I wouldn't want your wrath to scare off the pups." He barked a laugh and crossed his arms.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" There was a smiggin of pride in his voice. I rubbed my chin and gave him a grin.

"You'd be surprised at how intimidating you can be." I nodded and moved out of the bedroom. "Be back in a minute."

I didn't see Moss or Tempest for the majority of the early evening. They came back with stoney expressions, I knew what had happened. I tried to not let it get to me, He was going to kill us, we're only protecting our family.

Harlow was very happy when we told the cousins that they could stay. They'd have to make use of the living room space as much as they could. There's not a lot of space left in the house for any more guests.

"You should've seen him, he decked the man right in the face!" Beaumont said with a grin as he gestured a punch in the air. "He was livid." The pups were looking at him with wide eyes.

"Aiden did that?" Channon had wide eyes whilst Channing's mouth was wide open. Melina's legs were kicking happily. It was the children's tea time, the only reason it was different to ours was because of table space.

"He did," Rhodes smiled lightly. "But we're not going to talk to him about it, arlight?" The children nodded obediently. I moved so that I was sitting on the floor in the corner.

"Make sure you listen to that." My seriousness was toned down a little bit but it was still there. "Tomorrow, we're going to be training again." The children cheered. I was happy that they seemed so eager to do something which we see as a chore.

"Then we can learn how to defend the house!" Oran said happily. The rest of the evening was dull. Aiden came down after a little while and we played one of the games which he brought over. It was torture getting the children to learn how to play it. We ended up staying awake a little longer so that the adults could have a turn. It was something heartwarming to experience. We used to play with painted rocks and pictures on worn out pieces of paper. It was strange but it felt nice to let go of some worries.

Karim and Emi had come to me with some concerns before I headed up to bed. They worried about what Emi's parents might do. They had a list of questions and worries. I was certain that they wouldn't do anything tonight. The two had told me more about what happened, how Emi's mother was against the interrogator. We just had to hope that the love for her daughter continued until the next day.